The rising cost of living and new technology are leading to record levels of exploitation in the UK, the independent anti-slavery commissioner (IASC) has warned.
Over 23,000 potential victims of modern slavery were referred to the monitoring group in 2025, a 22% increase on the previous year and the highest number ever recorded.
A report published on Monday has warned that people trafficking, forced labour and sexual exploitation will become harder to detect in the coming years unless urgent action is taken against criminal networks.
More than a fifth of potential victims in 2025 were from the UK, the largest single group.
Eritrean nationals (13%) were the second-largest group, followed by Vietnamese nationals (9%).
The report comes more than 10 years after the Modern Slavery Act came into force, and draws together evidence from more than 50 organisations to analyse how exploitation may evolve.
It points to three main factors driving a rise: rising living costs, debt and insecure work.
Conflict and displacement around the world are making it easier for traffickers to exploit vulnerable people, the report also warns, while artificial intelligence (AI) and digital platforms are enabling traffickers to "recruit, groom and control victims at scale".
Eleanor Lyons, who was appointed IASC in October 2023, said the report underlined "how exploitation is increasingly affecting people within the UK".
She said: "The most harrowing forms of exploitation are becoming more widespread in this country and evolving faster than we can respond.
"It will spread further and become harder to stop unless we act now."
Speaking to BBC Radio 4 Today programme, Lyons said it is "predominantly British boys and girls who are being exploited by criminals".
She explained that children can be exploited through chat functions in video games, as perpetrators gain their trust this way, buying them tokens and targeting vulnerable children.
"That is the beginning of a journey of grooming and blackmail," she said, as they then begin to exploit the children.
She said boys are typically exploited criminally, by county lines and drug gangs, whereas girls more commonly face sexual exploitation.
"That's risen by over 50% in the last five years and its happening younger and younger," she says of sexual exploitation of girls.
But she said that both children and adults are "terrified of telling people" in case they get in trouble.
"We used to think that this was predominately something that happened on far flung shores" but it happens across the UK, she said.
Lyons said the the UK's response is "not keeping with the scale and complexity of the threat", and called on the government to introduce changes, including funding for specialist police units and fines for businesses found to have breached anti-exploitation rules.
"Behind these numbers are real people being abused in ways most of us would struggle to imagine, whether it's women forced into the sex trade, children coerced into drug gangs, or workers trapped in brutal conditions with no way out, often living in absolute fear," Lyons added.
A Home Office spokesperson said it is "committed to reviewing the modern slavery system to reduce opportunities for misuse of the system, whilst also ensuring that we have the right protections for those who need it".
They added the department is working with survivors and have taken action to reduce case backlogs.
The Modern Slavery Act 2015 brought together existing anti-exploitation offences into one law, and created new duties and powers to protect victims and prosecute offenders.
It introduced a new defence for victims of slavery and trafficking who have been forced to break the law.
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